Filmmakers Claim to Have Captured New Footage of Lake Champlain's Champ

Two filmmakers claim they have secured compelling new evidence of America's most persistent aquatic mystery hiding beneath Lake Champlain's surface.

The legendary entity, known as Champ, reportedly dwells within the 125-mile stretch of water connecting New York, Vermont, and Canada.

Often likened to Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, Champ is typically described as a massive, dark, serpent-like beast or a prehistoric plesiosaur with a long neck and humped back.

Despite numerous sightings over decades, definitive proof of the creature's existence has remained elusive until now.

Filmmakers Richard Rossi and Kelly Tabor told the Daily Mail they stumbled upon the footage while shooting a family movie inspired by the legend.

The pair discovered a large, unidentified shape moving through the water behind their boat, a detail they only noticed nearly two years after filming concluded.

Tabor described the shape as unlike any fish she had ever encountered on the lake, noting a skinny neck that oscillated as if grazing underwater.

The footage was captured during the production of Lucy and the Lake Monster, a children's film centered on the enduring mystery of Champ.

The video remained hidden in plain sight for nearly two years until Tabor spotted the anomaly while reviewing clips during the editing process in 2025.

Rossi recalled receiving an excited call from his longtime friend, who urged him to take a look at the screen behind their 11-foot wooden boat.

When Rossi reviewed the footage himself, he was stunned to see a large creature swimming behind the rope attached to their vessel.

While stories linking strange creatures to Lake Champlain stretch back centuries, the first widely documented modern sighting occurred in 1819.

According to local lore, Captain Crum reported seeing an enormous black creature in Bulwagga Bay that measured roughly 187 feet in length.

The captain reportedly described the animal as snake-like with eyes resembling a peeled onion, sparking centuries of speculation and investigation.

Since that initial report, hundreds of sightings have been logged around the lake, fueling a debate between believers and skeptics.

Believers suggest Champ could be a surviving plesiosaur or a zeuglodon, an ancient whale ancestor that lived millions of years ago.

Others argue these sightings are likely misidentifications of common fish, floating logs, waves, or simple optical illusions playing tricks on the eye.

The mystery has become deeply woven into the regional culture, with Port Henry, New York, marketing itself proudly as the official home of Champ.

Local businesses, festivals, and tourist attractions celebrate the creature, while residents regularly share stories of unusual encounters on the water.

Tabor grew up in nearby Crown Point and spent much of her childhood searching for the elusive monster that captivated her imagination.

"Our town, Crown Point, borders Port Henry, and Port Henry is known as the home of Champ, because in that area there have been over 300 eyewitness accounts," she stated.

Her family spent summers in the region, embedding her fascination with the legend into her formative years and driving this latest investigative breakthrough.

We had a boat that we would go out in, and so I was always scanning the lake, trying to get my chance to see Champ." Yet, as many times as she looked as a child, she never saw it. Now, years later, she believes she may have experienced something unexplained while attending college.

The pair recently discovered footage showing what appeared to be a large unidentified creature moving through the water behind their boat. A crucial detail they missed in real time emerged only after reviewing the video nearly two years later.

One evening, she and several others sat on the porch of her family's lakeside cabin when they noticed an unusual disturbance on the otherwise calm water. "There was a big stirring out a little ways from the front porch," she said. The group watched as a wake appeared and moved directly toward them.

"It wasn't going from the left or the right. It wasn't bearing up and down. It was a straight wake, at least an inch high, coming straight at us." Everyone waited for whatever was causing the disturbance to surface. Instead, the object suddenly changed direction.

"It came right towards the cabin, and it made a 90-degree turn," Tabor said. "It went off to the left of the next point across the bay, and it never surfaced." Because Lake Champlain's water is often murky due to its clay-rich bottom, nobody could determine what had caused the wake. "I like to believe that I actually saw the effects of Champ," she said.

After discovering the new footage, Rossi shared it with scientists and researchers for analysis. The clip eventually attracted the attention of The UnXplained, the History Channel series hosted by William Shatner. According to the filmmakers, producers told them the footage represented the strongest evidence of Champ since a famous 1977 photograph taken by tourist Sandra Mansi.

That image appeared to show a long-necked creature emerging from the water and remains one of the most famous pieces of alleged Champ evidence. Unlike the Mansi photograph, Rossi notes that the new footage includes a boat in the frame, providing viewers with a reference point for scale. The video has since generated hundreds of thousands of views online and sparked renewed debate among believers and skeptics alike.

For Rossi and Tabor, the discovery has only deepened their fascination with the mystery. The pair are returning to Lake Champlain this summer for the annual Champ Day festival and are already working on two additional films exploring the legend. Whether the footage ultimately proves anything remains uncertain. But more than 200 years after the first reported sighting, Champ continues to capture imaginations and keep people watching the waters of Lake Champlain for signs that something enormous may still be swimming below the surface.